Wetpaint, a next-generation media platform company, today announced that its celebrity gossip site Wetpaint Entertainment now attracts more than 10 million unique visitors and 50 million page views a month. A major reason for these significant traffic numbers, just 18 months after Wetpaint launched the property, is the company’s ability to drive traffic via Facebook and other social platforms. In fact, almost 30% of the website’s traffic was driven via Facebook.Wetpaint Entertainment has over 1.7 million Facebook fans and uses its cutting-edge social analytics and distribution system, rapid experimentation, and proprietary state-of-the-art technologies to turn these into site visitors. Of the top 50 publishers on the Internet ranked by social traffic composition, Wetpaint far outpaces all of them at driving traffic via social platforms. The next closest, People.com, drove slightly over 15% of its site traffic via social platforms in February.

Wetpaint has also found that its audience from social platforms is substantially more valuable than its audience from search. Visitors from Facebook typically spend 25% more time on Wetpaint Entertainment, return to the site more frequently, and are more likely to share content with their friends. Because of these factors, advertisers are paying a premium to reach them.

“We are seeing tremendous results from our focused effort to drive traffic via social platforms,” stated Wetpaint Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Elowitz. “As the social web becomes even more personalized, we will be able to apply all of our expertise and technologies to drive even more of these immensely valuable site visitors.”

According to traffic benchmarking service Quantcast, Wetpaint Entertainment received more US-based traffic in the last 30 days than The Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Mail, Gawker and others. In addition, mobile traffic to Wetpaint Entertainment is on par with mobile traffic to The Huffington Post.

Ben Elowitz, Co-Founder and CEO of Wetpaint, a next-generation media company, has been actively talking with influential people in the media industry and capturing insights on the future of media. The thought-provoking comments can be found in a new report titled “Rebooting Media: The Digital Publishing Revolution for a Fully Social Web” which is downloadable from the Wetpaint website here. The document contains the thinking of the following individuals:

Jeff Berman, General Manager of Digital Media for the NFL and Buddy Media board member, talks about how Facebook is eclipsing search.

Greg Clayman, Publisher of The Daily, explains why Facebook is taking sharing to a whole new level.

Erik Flannigan, EVP of Digital Media at MTV Networks Entertainment, shows how to build great relationships with social media fan bases.

Jason Hirschhorn, Curator of Media ReDEFined, considers the element of surprise in social media.

Wenda Harris Millard, President of Media Link LLC, advances the notion of a new personal recommendation engine on today’s Web.

Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, a Partner at Accel Partners, zeroes in on the way that ecommerce is blazing a trail for social Web publishers.

Anthony Soohoo, a digital media consultant and adviser, focuses on the way that the people-powered Web is changing innovation.

Wetpaint also convened several of the people listed above (including Berman, Clayman, DVorkin, Elowitz, Hirschhorn and Millard) as well as Jeff Bercovici of Forbes, Jessi Hempel of FORTUNE and Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch for a roundtable conversation on January 17, 2012 to discuss the issues facing the media industry and what the future holds. Video highlights of that meeting will be available shortly on Elowitz’s blog, Digital Quarters.

“The media industry needs to move at warp speed to keep up with all the changes impacting their world,” said Elowitz. “We are all in this together and, by openly talking about the challenges and trends, we can help each other navigate the vast unexplored territory ahead of us.”

Fans Can Now “LOVE!”, “BOO!”, “OMG!”, and “LOL!” Stories to Their Hearts Content

Wetpaint, a next-generation media company, today released a new social app for Facebook Timeline that allows fans of its Wetpaint Entertainment website to better express and share their reactions to Wetpaint Entertainment news with their friends. In the past, fans could only “Like” a story, photo gallery or video; now fans can “LOVE!”, “BOO!”, “OMG!”, or “LOL!” it, among other options. Clicking on any one of the eight new reaction buttons on Wetpaint Entertainment adds the reaction and the story directly to a fan’s Facebook Timeline. Now Wetpaint Entertainment fans that love reading and sharing the latest entertainment news can discover new stories with friends and update their friends on what they’re reading.

Wetpaint Entertainment delights 18-34 year-old women with in-depth coverage of their favorite TV shows, stars and fashion. It is now one of the leading sources for information, especially on top-rated television shows, in the entertainment news space. The media property attracts more than six million unique visitors and has more than a million Facebook fans.

“We all know that Facebook is the predominant means for people to connect with each other online,” said Ben Elowitz, Wetpaint Co-Founder and CEO. “Wetpaint Entertainment is all about connecting with other TV-show fans and this new app for Facebook Timeline makes that easier than ever.”

Digital Quarters

Digital Quarters is Wetpaint CEO Ben Elowitz’s blog that examines the future of digital media and publishing and provides perspectives on the changes needed for media companies to grow profitably.